


it's all right, it's all right, it's all right

by louistomlinsons



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-11
Updated: 2013-05-11
Packaged: 2017-12-11 13:02:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/799029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louistomlinsons/pseuds/louistomlinsons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis works in a bookshop, and then, so does Harry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's all right, it's all right, it's all right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [1dsoupforthesoul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/1dsoupforthesoul/gifts).



> title from 'going down' by the skins, who i have recently fallen in love with and all my fic names will be taken from their song lyrics for the rest of my life. also, i'm an angsty teen who only writes angst except this time i didn't.

"Mate, you need to get laid, is all I'm saying," Zayn says, as if his opinion is fact and that's the only advice Louis will ever need in his entire life.

Well, Zayn's advice is probably the only advice Louis has ever actually listened to, but he decides to stop exactly now, at this moment in time, because Zayn is decidedly the biggest douchedick on the planet.

"I think that is one of the biggest clichés ever in life and I thought you were better than that," Louis huffs, turning up his nose at Zayn and flips the page in his book as loudly as he can. He's rereading one of John Green's novels (the man is genius) and working to forcefully remove from his mind the little part of himself that agrees with Zayn; it's been a long time since he's had sex, and maybe he just needs to decompress.

"You work in a bookshop, and you're just waiting around for Prince Charming to wander in," Zayn says, gently grabbing the book from Louis' hands and shutting it with a dull thud. "You're a living cliché. Now get to work, or I'm not paying you."

"If you don't pay me, I won't pay my share of rent," Louis reminds him and grabs a stack of books he has to shove somewhere on the shelves. He never puts them in the correct spot, just to be a menace to all the other workers, and instead usually shoves most books in the area with all the erotica.

"Louis, even if I did pay you, you wouldn't be paying your share of rent," Zayn reminds them both, grabbing Louis' shoulders as he tries to head to the "adult novels" section and instead turns him in the direction of the shelf where they're actually meant to be. "Why did I even hire you?"

"Because otherwise I was going to eat all your food, gain a lot of weight, and live on your couch," Louis says matter of factly, and it's true. Louis and Zayn had been childhood best friends, separated when uni classes had been a bit too much. But they had been reunited when Louis was dumped and needed a shoulder to cry on and place to stay (another cliché in his life, Zayn likes to remind him) and Zayn was there, with an apartment, food, and a job.

"Do you think I'll have to work here forever?" Louis asks, the mood of the conversation suddenly turning more serious.

Zayn's face softens, his usually mysterious expression easing into a more comforting one. "No, Lou, you'll find your calling. You'll go back to uni and finish your last year, and then you'll find out what you really want to do with your life. You're just a little lost right now. Luckily, you have me to guide you."

Louis smiles, if a little wobbly, and begins stacking the books, even going as far as to put them in the proper sections they belong in. "Thanks, Zayn. I love you."

Zayn grins back and takes half of the stack, walking to another part of the store, calling back over his shoulders, "I love you too! But if you ever tell anyone that, I'll be forced to kill you!"

"Hello?" a voice calls out from the front and it occurs to Louis that no one's out there managing customer service and their security has been acting up, so someone could literally get away with stealing from the store. "I'm here looking for a job?"

"Hey, mate," Louis hears Zayn greet the newcomer, voice over exaggeratedly cheerful. Louis grimaces at the fact that he'll have to socialize and steps back from behind the shelf, where he's able to see to the front of the store. What he sees there knocks him off balance, literally, and he tips over sideways, onto a display sporting all the Harry Potter books and movies, a few years too late.

"Louis?" Zayn calls, suddenly within Louis' peripheral vision.

"Stay away!" Louis yells, groaning loudly in shame. "Only my pride was hurt. It'll mend eventually."

Hopefully.

But probably not because he just fell in front of a really hot guy.

And when did Louis' life turn into a cliché romantic comedy?

"Well get up then and come greet Harry," Zayn says, no ounce of sympathy in his voice.

"I'm not exactly in the mood," Louis says defiantly, pushing himself off the ground and dusting off the best as he can. He's probably going to take an hour long shower to wash off the feeling of the dirty ground.

"Louis Tomlinson," Zayn says sternly, and Louis knows not to argue once that voice is brought into play.

"Coming, my dearest Zayniekins," Louis sing-songs and tries not to blush once he steps back into Harry's line of sight. Harry is just as off-balancing to look at the second time. "Hello, Harry. I am Louis."

"Nice to meet you," Harry says, holding out his large hand for Louis to shake. Louis is reluctant to do so, because his hands are the size of a child's compared to Harry's. Louis is the size of a pixie compared to Harry, actually, who might as well be the size of a giant.

But Louis shakes his hand anyway, because he's always had a thing for guys who are bigger than him.

"Nice to meet you as well," Louis says as politely as he can, while having a breakdown within the confines of his mind.

"You're probably going to work with him," Zayn explains, "I'm just about to interview him. This is the guy that Niall recommended."

"I thought you were a loser," Louis blurts out, before he's able to stop himself. He's had this problem his entire life, where his foot gets stuck in his mouth, and he gets himself into these situations and generally just drives people away. His mom just said that his mouth moves faster than his brain and that he'd grow out of it eventually. Obviously, he hasn't grown out of it yet.

"Louis!" Zayn hisses, looking about .3 seconds away from slapping him.

"No, it's fine," Harry laughs, a grumbling sound that crashing through Louis' body and leaves behind only destruction. "I used to be. I guess not so much any more, because anyone Niall tells about me is always shocked to actually meet me."

Louis nods, too shocked to say much else.

Zayn shoots Louis a glare and turns back to Harry. "I guess we'll get to that interview, then. Also, if you'd like to request a time for when Louis' not working, I will completely understand."

Harry giggles and Louis scoffs.

"You think he's kidding," Louis says, "but he's actually not. He really thinks you won't like me so much you won't be able to work with me. How preposterous."

"I doubt you even know what that means," Zayn says, grabbing Harry by the arm and dragging him away to the breakdown in the back. All it contains is a coffee maker that doesn't work and a stack of used books that they're supposed to sell but don't.

"I used it correctly, didn't I!" Louis shouts back, but it falls on deaf ears as Zayn shuts the door before Louis even thinks of his comeback. Oh well.

+

Harry Styles singing The Wanted at the top of his lungs is not what Louis expected when he walked into work on Monday morning.

"I take it you got the job?" Louis says, in lieu of hello. He figures Harry singing Glad You Came is pretty much the same thing as a greeting.

"Oh yeah," Harry says, not even embarrassed at having been caught. Not that he was a bad singer or anything, so there wasn't much to get embarrassed over. "Zayn says that you're not to scare me away and to quit putting Fifty Shades of Grey in the children's picture book section."

Louis nods his understanding as he throws his bag over the counter. "Monday is a slow day, so we pretty much can do whatever we want."

"Sounds good," Harry says, straightening up a stack of books that were less than a millimeter out of line.

"You don't actually have to do anything," Louis repeats himself.

Harry looks up at him with a raised eyebrow. "I don't want to get fired on my first day."

Louis shrugs his shoulders and hops on the counter, sprawling himself out and preparing to take a nap. "Suit yourself, mate."

"Are you seriously going to leave me to do all the work myself, especially on my first day?" Harry asks in disbelief.

Louis opens one eye to stare at Harry's face. "Like I said, Mondays are slow. We could probably close the store, and Zayn would probably think it's just a normal Monday."

"Oh," is all Harry says as he sets down the books he's holding on his overly-large giant hands.

"Care to join me?" Louis asks, turning on his side so there's just enough room for Harry if they spoon.

Harry looks hesitant, before apparently throwing caution out the window and nodding. "Maybe for a little while. Only just a short nap!"

"Whatever you say," Louis grumbles, feeling content as he feels warm arms wrap around him and Harry's breath tickling his neck.

+

"Aren't you two cute?" Zayn says, standing next to the counter with his arms crossed, smirk permanently etched onto his face. "I should take a picture and hang it on the wall."

"What time is it?" Harry asks, jolting upright and almost succeeding in knocking Louis off of the counter.

"Noon," Zayn answers, not even checking his watch. "I came to let Harry know that he's off work now."

Harry rubs at his eye adorably and then frowns at Louis, who's blocking the way.

"Lou," Zayn says, "you need to get up so Harry can go home."

"I don't want Harry to go home," Louis complains. "He's good at cuddling and so warm I don't even need a blanket."

Zayn sighs and grips Louis' arm firmly and then tugs, Louis tumbling to the ground at his feet.

"What the fuck?" Louis cries, curled into a fetal position onto the ground. "I actually hate the ground," he declares loudly.

"Get up," Zayn says, voice lacking in any pity or sympathy at all. "Your shift ended too."

Louis perks up and pushes himself from the ground. "Well then, why didn't you say so? Come on, dearest Harry."

Zayn rolls his eyes while Louis grabs his bag and waits by the front door for Harry to join him.

"Why am I coming?" Harry asks, confusion evident on his face.

"Because," Louis sighs, like the answer should be obvious. "You're going to take me out to lunch because we haven't gotten a chance to talk and I don't think I've properly scared you yet."

"Okay," Harry says warily, grabbing his own bag and pacing to the front door. "See you tomorrow then, Zayn?"

Zayn nods and waves them off, chuckling to himself.

"Harry, you're a fantastic cuddler, how many people have told you that?" Louis says, not pausing to take a breath as they walk out the front door, and onto the crowded sidewalk. Louis grabs a hold of Harry's hand in panic, because he just really does not like crowds.

"Please don't let go of me," Louis whines, shuffling closer to avoid being bumped into.

Harry squeezes their joined hands and pulls Louis towards a coffee shop nearby. It's only a couple of blocks, but by the time they get there Louis is shaking and looks about a moment away from tears.

"Alright?" Harry asks softly, once they walk through the door.

Louis nods, eyes glistening with tears. "I just really do not like crowds."

"Well, now we're away from the mass, and we can enjoy a nice lunch together in this small coffee shop," Harry says. "Away from the crowds. Sound good to you?"

Louis smiles gratefully and removes his hand from Harry's vice-like grip. "That sounds absolutely perfect to me."

"Great, what would you like?" Harry asks politely, steering Louis to one of the many empty tables and forcing him into one of the chairs.

"Just a coffee, black, please," Louis says, smiling up Harry and then pulling out his phone and checking Twitter while Harry goes to order their drinks. Louis thinks he might be a little bit in love, even though he hasn't even known Harry for a full day, once all their time spent together is added up. Which is fine, because Louis is firm believer that love is not defined by time. It defined by your feelings, and Louis is most definitely feeling in love.

When Harry comes back, he holds two coffees in his hands, each with a wrapped cookie set on top of the lid.

"I hope you like chocolate chip, because that's the only kind I grabbed," Harry says, handing Louis his coffee and one of the soft cookies.

"It's my favorite, thank you," Louis says, smiling and unwrapping the cookie to take a bite out of it, suppressing a moan of pleasure.

"Would it be very cliché of me to ask you to tell me about yourself?" Harry says, cheeky grin lighting up his brilliant emerald eyes.

"Mate, my life is a living cliché," Louis sighs.

+

"I had a great time," Harry says, hands tucked into his pockets, shoulders caving in.

"If you say you'd like to do it again sometime, I'm never speaking to you again," Louis threatens, voice light and airy with a happiness he hasn't felt for quite some time now.

Harry throws his head back and laughs, carefree and joyous and a sound that Louis wants to bottle and sell to the world, but also he maybe wants to keep it to himself too. Harry's laughter is infectious and soon enough Louis joins in, his own laugh higher in pitch and bell-like, while Harry's is rumbly and comforting.

"But that would be the truth," Harry says earnestly, stopping at Louis' apartment building and staring at the smaller boy with interested, wide eyes. "I really would like to do it again sometime. You're just...amazing."

"Thanks," Louis says, shifting his eyes to his feet as a blush creeps up his face. "I appreciate that. Now I'll allow one last cliché before you go."

"And what's that?" Harry asks cheekily, smirk twitching at the corners of his lips.

"Kiss me on my doorstep."

Harry takes Louis' face in his hands and does just that.


End file.
